Photographs of Vergennes (Vt.)

This collection contains 788 images comprising 122 years of
history in Vergennes, Vermont’s oldest city. Featuring a wide range of
topics, which date from the 1866 Civil War parade to the 1988 Bicentennial,
the collection provides a comprehensive and unusual look at small town life
in northern Vermont. These photographs document the full visual spectrum of
history in Vergennes, from businesses, industries, and transportation to
natural scenery, paintings, and portraits of people who once walked the
city’s streets.

These images were scanned from 35mm slides located in the Bixby
Memorial Free Library archives in Vergennes. The slides were made around
1987 from color photographs taken of the original images. The originals,
mainly of the Vergennes area but including several from Ferrisburgh and Lake
Champlain, had accumulated over the years in the library’s historical
materials repository. Many of these photographs, along with the slides and
accompanying inventory notebook, can be viewed with permission at the
library.

The authors of these photographs remain undocumented and
anonymous, except for a selection of photographs by local artist Harvey
Custer Ingham (1863-1931), a personal friend of local businessman and
library founder William Gove Bixby (1829-1907).

Mr. Bixby left funds from his estate for the founding of a
public library in the city of Vergennes, including the construction of the
imposing Greek revival library building on Main Street. The library opened
on November 4, 1912, and in 2012 celebrates a century of continued service
to Vergennes and the surrounding towns of Addison, Panton, Waltham, and
Ferrisburgh.

Published: May 06, 2011, University of Vermont, Bailey/Howe Library, Special
Collections

Rights: The photographs in this collection are protected by a Creative
Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. You are free to
share these works as long as you give appropriate credit, do not use these
works for commercial purposes, and do not change them in any way.

Schooner-rigged canal boat off the mouth of Otter Creek. Boats of this type were numerous during the latter half of the 19th century and many a steamboatman got his early training on these schooners. Capt. George Rushlow, for many years general manager of the Champlain Transportation Co's fleet on Lake Champlain and Lake George, got his captain's title as master of the Canal schooner "Mike." This picture from guide book of 1888.

The old two-stacker "Vermont" going North on an afternoon in
1893. This beautiful shot was made by Harvey Ingham, an artist and an
excellent photographer of Vergennes. It is taken looking West off Diamond
Island, the "Vermont" skirting the base of Split Rock Mountain heading for
Essex, her next stop. Leaving Westport about 3pm, she would reach this spot
about 3:30.

The Str. Water Lily, Capt. Louis Daniels, Master, on her way up
Otter Creek. The Water Lily, a small steamer built about 1867, plied between
Vergennes and Port Henry, later between Vergennes and Westpot. She left
Vergennes in the morning around 8 A.M., making intermediate stops and
landing at Westport around 10 A.M. in time to connect with the Str. Vermont
going South. She left Westport after the return of the "Vermont" from
Ticonderoga, with passengers for Vergennes.